AP to be developed as electronics manufacturing hub: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Visakhapatnam: Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said Andhra Pradesh would be developed as a major electronics hub, and announced several initiatives planned in this direction.

"Andhra Pradesh would become a major electronics manufacturing hub, as four electronics clusters have already been sanctioned for the state, and the fifth one is in process," Prasad said.

The Minister was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the (Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) Centre for Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) here.

"The SAMEER, a Centre for Electromagnetic Environmental Effects, is an autonomous R&D institution under the Department of Electronics and Information and Technology (DEITY), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT). It is one of the most advanced institutions of the Government of India," he said.

The organization, headquartered at Mumbai, operates through four other centres in Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Visakhapatnam, he said.

The permanent building of the institution would be constructed in an area of 15 acres in Gambhiram village in Anandapuram mandal of the district, he said.

Prasad said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's request to set up Information Technology and Investment Region (ITIR) in the state would be considered after the Union government formulates the ITIR policy.

He rued that the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was a profit-making entity till 2004, but it became a loss-making body in the 10-year rule of the Congress-led Union government.

"In the last 17 months, the BSNL has again started making profit. It has earned operating profit of Rs 672 crore," he said.

National Informatics Centre (NIC) would be established in the state, besides a separate BSNL telephone exchange for the under-construction state capital Amaravati in Guntur district, Prasad said.

Stating that e-commerce was on the rise in the country, for which post offices were being digitalised, the minister announced to set up an e-commerce centre in Guntur district, apart from creation of e-commerce parcel hubs at Visakhapatnam, Vijaywada and Tirupati.

He said mobile phone manufacturing units have already come up at Sri City in the state, and added that many more electronic items manufacturing units would follow suit.

Two lakh panchayats in the country would be connected to optic fiber cable network, he said.

The minister, while asserting that India would develop as Knowledge Economy in the time to come, gave the formula - IT + IT = IT. Elaborating on the formula, he said, IT (Indian Talent) + IT (Information Technology) = IT (India Tomorrow).

Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said he would try to bring more projects in the state, to make up for the problems it faced after its bifurcation.

Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to develop the country, the minister said several institutions like World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund have spoken of India's suitability to attract investments in the present scenario.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu hailed the state for "securing a place on the international map" after it hosted the Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet and International Fleet Review (IFR) recently, which saw a good response from many foreign countries.

The Chief Minister urged the Central government to sanction more of its projects to Andhra Pradesh, and assured that the state government would provide necessary infrastructure like land, water, electricity, etc for the same.